Big Data

New York Times article focuses on New York City's, "Office of Policy and Strategic Planning, a geek squad of civic-minded number-crunchers working from a pair of cluttered cubicles across from City Hall in the Municipal Building."

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/24/nyregion/mayor-bloombergs-geek-squad.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimes&_r=0&pagewanted=all

I think this kind of stuff has great potential.

Are you excited by what it might bring? Does it concern you?

 

It's fascinating. And absolutely there are privacy concerns etc. but there's a whole lot of potential for good.

 

The underpinnings of Mayor Bloomberg's business empire are the accumulation and analysis of information, so I see no surprise that he would bring "big data" to bear in his administration. I'm just a little surprised this story wasn't written 11 or 12 years ago.

 

WAR is not the answer.

 

Well, the NYPD's CompStat was sort of an early version of this. It got a lot of credit for reducing crime, and got a ton of press.

And, the NSA has been using data mining to combat terrorism for years.

I'd like to think it could be used to predict and prevent the next person who might want to shoot up a school, or help to evaluate schools and teachers.

But, done well, and with the right people in charge, it probably can do a million little things -- like figure out who is dumping grease into the sewer -- that will improve lives.

 

I thought this would be a thread about the worst athlete nickname ever.

 

If Trout gains any more weight

 

I'm not sure if this is what the OP is referring to, but my sister had told me about this and it is fairly creepy.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/02/16/how-target-figured-out-a-teen-girl-was-pregnant-before-her-father-did/

There is a link in the above to a NYT magazine story from last month that talks in-depth about the data mining.

Of course, it bothers me when I'm pricing flights and then I log on here and get a Google ad that says "Fly Delta from YYY to ZZZ for $467."

 

Think of all the jobs lost to computers here. AUTOMATION BAD!!!

 

He likes it when you call him this:

 

We should start calling RickStain Big Data.

 

Somewhere, 13-year-old RickStain who had just discovered Star Trek TNG is getting a boner, and it may or may not be related to that suggestion.